Development Partners pledge support to the Private Sector

Accra , March 05, GNA - About 11 donor organizations have pledged support for the implementation of the Private Sector development Strategy II and other priority projects of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI).

The interventions will seek to improve Ghana's investment climate by reducing the cost and risk of doing business, reducing the deficit in infrastructure that has emerged over the past decade as well as developing an efficient financial sector that increases the private sector's access to credit at competitive cost.

Speaking at a roundtable meeting in Accra, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekow Spio-Gabrah said MOTI would present its priority programmes and projects to the development partners at a donor conference to be held in April.

This, he said, would enable them identify and support programmes which are in line with their focal areas of operation.

  'By so doing MOTI will be best placed to implement its priority projects which are beset with implementation challenges due to inadequate funding,' Dr Spio-Gabrah said.

The meeting was organized by MOTI to assess the various support mechanisms the development partners have in their portfolio for the support and development of the private sector in Ghana.

Participants at the meeting included the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), JICA, USAID, Department for International Development (DFID), EUD, the Embassy of Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Also present were representatives of private sector organizations such as Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Private Enterprise Federation, Pharmaceutical Association of Ghana and the Association of Ghana Industries.

GNA